


Better From A Distance

by anony_mouse



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Agent Woo cameo, BAMF Clint Barton, Canonical Character Death, Crap Summary, Feels, Gen, No Beta, Not A Fix-It, Really original title, bit of angst, except AoS so not really, technically canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-26 16:33:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6247420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anony_mouse/pseuds/anony_mouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint learned to use his eyes, but that doesn't neccesarily make things easier</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better From A Distance

   "Who the hell is she?" Clint and Barney watch the ethereally eerie girl vanish into the big tent like a ghost, barely leaving a mark on the world.

   "She's Carson's little pet. Nobody's really sure why he keeps her around, but she seems to be good luck. Last few times things have gone bad, we're gone before they do. Bets goin' around on her being a true psychic or some kinda good luck charm. She's kinda creepy though- I wouldn't recommend getting too close. Rumor has it she can see into your head."

   "And you believe this shit?" Barney scoffs. Jackson grimaces and turns away.

   "Believe it or don't, just stay away from Abigail Turns."  
...

   To everyone's shock, it's Clint, not Barney that breaks the unofficial rule.

   What can he say? The girl's a mystery that he wants to solve. It has absolutely nothing to do with how pretty she is (screw you too, Barney) or the sign language (he's not that desperate for friends, he's  _not_ ). He just legitimately likes talking to her is all. 

   Plus she shows him the coolest secret hiding spots in the circus.  
...

   "I don't get it, how the hell do you see that?" Abigail smiles slightly, a little ghost of a thing, as she regards Clint and the puzzle. The boy squints at the picture, but he cannot see the stupid old woman.

   "I look."

   "I  _am_ looking, I'm only seeing a girl!" Clint doesn't bother biting down the snarl of frustration around 'Gail. She's safe. She won't- yeah, he's just gonna stick with 'she's safe'.

   "Step back."

   "What?"

   "Step back and look. Take in all the details, stop focusing on what you can see and look at the elements in the picture itself. Everything adds up to a picture at the right angle, you just have to find it."

   "... Holy  _shit_." Like magic, the old woman forms on the page, ears and faces becoming eyes and noses.

   "There you go."

   "But, how do you do it in real life?"

   "Hmm?" 

   "If it's not magic, how do you always know things no one else does?"

   "Like I said, step back. Examine everything you know about a situation. Is someone acting out of character? Is something out of place for no apparent reason? There's always a cause, you just have to look for it. Maybe that person is acting in character, just a part of their character you don't know yet. Maybe something's been tampered with that you can't see."

   "That sounds like a lot of work."

   "And yet, it's landed me here. I'm not saying I'm always right. I can miss variables or misread a situation, but when you look from a distance, it's easier to see the mistakes and stay uninvolved." Her eyes shutter closed, "It's not perfect. Easier doesn't mean simple, and there's something to be said about seeing human nature." In that moment, she looks exhausted and old. Clint falls silent, thinking.  
...

   A week later, Abigail tells him something's wrong with Buck. Clint knows- Buck's been twitchy all month. But he doesn't know what to do, so he does nothing.

   A week later, 'Gail goes missing. That night, Clint finds her with a knife in her throat, half buried in a shallow grave, eyes glassy and unseeing at last.

   Clint closes her eyes gently, choking on tears.

   He knows whose knife that is.  
...

   In the hospital, he has plenty of time to step back and look. 

   It was obvious. He should have listened to 'Gail, he should have seen it. He should have told Carson about the robberies. Then he wouldn't be here, the circus wouldn't have left, Barney wouldn't have put an arrow in his leg, Abigail would still be-

   The moment he's free of the hospital, Clint takes a deep breath, steps back, and _looks_.  
...

   The man in the suit looks like a fed, but his weapon isn't standard fed gear. It's too good to be just a simple upgrade. In fact, all his equipment is a bit better, mostly Stark stuff that Clint's never seen before.

   Plus, the suit aims for a non-lethal shot when he finally catches up with Clint. Clint's gut says he's not here to kill him.

   It's enough. He goes.  
...

   He excels at SHIELD. It takes them a while to realize that he's more than a dumb sniper, but once word gets around that he did the planning on every single hit he's pulled, the whispers of circuses and GED's stop. Mostly. Clint admits that having people underestimate him makes his job easier.

   Hawkeye's pre-SHIELD hits were- are- legends, and technically, he was never caught during one. He was on break when the suit (Coulson) finally caught him. Not that that made it better, but Clint did slip into something of an alternative mindset for missions. (Not that Clint's sore about it. Much.)

   When he saves the Mozambique op, things really change. They won't make him handler- he's too good an asset for that- but they give him secondary command and consultation on every op he's on. People are only ever sore about it until he pulls their sorry butts out of the line of fire. Only a couple never really get over it, and very few of them make it much farther in the ranks.

   He's the one who figures out every possible scenario- even the most unlikely ones- and runs damage control for the one that actually happens. And at SHIELD, he's in  higher demand as his crazy predictions start becoming realities. Everyone wants the sharp-eyed Hawk watching their backs.   
.  
   He watches the woman with perfectly dyed, blonde hair stop and examine something. That's not right.

   She would never stop in such an exposed space. She's too good to make that mistake. ( _Maybe that person is acting in character, just a part of their character you don't know yet_.)

   "I'm bringing her in sir."

   « _What? Barton, that is not your mission, your mission is-_ »

   Clint ignores Woo. The guy's good people, but right now he's too concerned about protocol and what his boss will say.

   "Trust me on this. It's the best way."  
...

   "There's no way! He wasn't anywhere in your sight lines, how the hell did you know where he'd be?" _Because the man had a safe-house he'd been compulsively checking for weeks and anyone that paranoid would definitely duck out the back_. But Martinez is an ass who will no doubt accuse Barton of something underhanded in the after-action, so Clint doesn't say that.

   "I see better from a distance."  
...

   "He's living to die."

   "What?" The agent next to him turns away from the report and gives him a look.  
   "Get me on the phone with Coulson. Now."

   "Yessir!" One of the junior agents jumps to get Coulson- Phil, on their and Nat's monthly bar visits- on hold, and Clint re-scans the report.

   "Sir?" The other junior agent asks tentatively, "what do you mean 'he's living to die'?"

   "He's giving up his possessions and his company, organizing his affairs, I'm willing to bet there's a freshly updated copy of his will somewhere. Stark knows- or thinks, at least- that he's dying and he's doing his damn best to make it as painless as possible for everyone else when he's gone."

   "... Shit."

   "Sir, Agent Coulson is on the line."  
...

   "The cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? Well doors open from both sides." It'd be funny how gobsmacked Fury looked, except how it's not.  
...

   Clint looks through the haze of blue, takes a step back and looks at the giant flying ship. He can do this, no problem.  
...

   Clint places flowers on his friend's grave with over-bright eyes. 

   'Gail, it seems, was right. Seeing everything didn't always mean things turned out for the best.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for sticking around this long. I wrote this ages ago (like last year) and just never posted it. I have a couple other random short fics similarly backlogged that I might post... Idk. No promises.  
> Hugs From Afar.


End file.
